sirbissel:Pawn takes the King: I saw a nod to Baker with the scarf, I heard some snark at Tennant with being on chapter 10 & "11 is the best".. I missed the nod to Pond everyones talking about. Wha'd I miss?

Jensaarai:My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

RevMercutio:Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

t3knomanser:Jensaarai: In this case, the Doctor actually has a reason to be intrigued that's been shown to us, rather than told.

The puzzlebox nature of this companion does justify the Doctor's obsession. He does like a puzzle, this one. Oddly, this one felt very much like an RTD-era episode, to me. The heavy flirting. The high camp (jumping to the airliner and the antigrav motorcycle, the scenery-chewing villains). It wasn't bad, but it felt like a rewind to 2006, or so.

I am still digging the new credits, though, which are a nice homage to the 60s-era credits.

The intrigue makes sense. The only way to have multiple people show up in multiple places would involve some kind of time travel or universe manipulation which would definitely interest the Doctor. However, he seems a bit overly obsessed with it. I guess it's because this is the first companion after how horrible he felt with Amy and Rory. But he's at it again, luring another companion to satisfy his curiosity just like he did with Amy. You think he would have learned.

RevMercutio:Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

There are ways around that. Say, when the library saved her, it somehow restored things. Or if something dumps a lot of time energy into the library computer to get it to recreate her body... You know, somehow.

cptjeff:RevMercutio: Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

There are ways around that. Say, when the library saved her, it somehow restored things. Or if something dumps a lot of time energy into the library computer to get it to recreate her body... You know, somehow.

Let's just say that I don't think River is out for the count.m

No, she's done. It's the whole point of her character. The doctor and Rivers relationship is in reverse.

Walker:Don't watch it on BBC America. They cut it to pieces, interrupt it with commercials every 8 minutes, etc. It messes up the flow of the show. Something exciting is about happen then all the sudden they cut to commercials about life insurance. Just download it illegally or wait a couple days and rent it uncut in HD thru Amazon streaming.

Darth_Lukecash:No, she's done. It's the whole point of her character. The doctor and Rivers relationship is in reverse.

I've always understood it to be more of a jumble, hence the implied comparing of notes every time. Regardless, it's never been made explicit, which means that the writers can do whatever the fark they want to do with it. If they decide River is done, whatever, they write that. If they decide they want to bring her back stronger than ever as full timelord, there are relatively easy ways to do that too.

You're making definitive declarations about something that hasn't been decided definitively yet, much less boxed into any sort of real corner within the context of the show.

CigaretteSmokingMan:The woman in the shop gave her the Doctor's "help line." Didn't Rose have a phone that could call the Doctor?

Rose is in an alternate universe. I'd like to think it was a former companion or, like someone mentioned, Sally Sparrow.

In all, I liked this episode. A couple of nice callbacks, U.N.I.T., JLC can actually act while looking good, etc. Going into the episode, I kind of thought the premise of "something in the wi-fi was a little hokey, but it was done really well. I was also pleased to see Richard E. Grant's face as the Great Intelligence again.

cptjeff:RevMercutio: Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

There are ways around that. Say, when the library saved her, it somehow restored things. Or if something dumps a lot of time energy into the library computer to get it to recreate her body... You know, somehow.

Let's just say that I don't think River is out for the count.

I'm hoping she is. If her last episode ends with the Doctor giving the screwdriver and then leaving her to visit the library, it is a very nice little arc. Mind you the other argument is that he's the Doctor, he's gone hundreds of years at this point, and he'll damn make sure that everybody lives given that amount of time.

gingerjet:Walker: Don't watch it on BBC America. They cut it to pieces, interrupt it with commercials every 8 minutes, etc. It messes up the flow of the show. Something exciting is about happen then all the sudden they cut to commercials about life insurance. Just download it illegally or wait a couple days and rent it uncut in HD thru Amazon streaming.

There's already been at least four different ways the Doctor can get more regenerations established in the series so far:

1. The Time Lords enforced the regeneration limit, so with them gone the cap is no longer there

2. The Time Lords reset the cycles for everyone fighting in the Time War, which makes sense because it would give them more effective warriors against the Daleks. This has already been established to have happened with The Master, since he was able regenerate normally after long having used up his regenerations.

3. Absorbing the Heart of the TARDIS from Rose gave the Doctor a new set of regenerations, since being exposed to the same time energy reverted the female Slitheen to an egg.

4. River only used up two of her regenerations, so if she gave her remaining ones to the Doctor, he would now have 10 left, assuming she has the same limit.

I'm just disappointed that the Doctor wears a clip on. I'd suspected it for a long time, because the ones they have Matt Smith wear were mostly fairly obvious to those of us who actually wear bowties, but now it's official.

Yeah, I'm disappointed. It was in one of the previews, so I knew it was coming, but still. Really? They're not that hard to tie, and the Doctor has never really struck me as the clip on type. More the 'make things obnoxiously complicated and weird' type. Hence the scarf. And the clown suit. And the cape. And the flute. And the cane. And the decorative vegetable. But it's been obvious that it's a clip on for a while now (for the non-bowtie savvy out there, they really are that obvious), so it's not like this is a great revelation.

TheManofPA:cptjeff: RevMercutio: Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

There are ways around that. Say, when the library saved her, it somehow restored things. Or if something dumps a lot of time energy into the library computer to get it to recreate her body... You know, somehow.

Let's just say that I don't think River is out for the count.

I'm hoping she is. If her last episode ends with the Doctor giving the screwdriver and then leaving her to visit the library, it is a very nice little arc. Mind you the other argument is that he's the Doctor, he's gone hundreds of years at this point, and he'll damn make sure that everybody lives given that amount of time.

I think that's happened already, if you've seen "Last Night" (one of the mini episodes)

FAIR WARNING: SOME SPOILERS IN MY REPLIES BELOW.Also haven't seen the episode yet.

TrollDerpistan:My assumption with Clara is that the original version of her that the Doctor first met, actually infected all of the conversion nanobots on that Dalek prison planet just before it exploded. I figure they all carried copies of her personality and knowledge, and got scattered to the 4 winds when the planet blew up.

I think perhaps there is a nano-bot that got loose on Earth and is continually re-creating Clara. When a version dies, it makes a new one. And the knowledge continues to be passed on along with that.

I'm just disappointed that the Doctor wears a clip on. I'd suspected it for a long time, because the ones they have Matt Smith wear were mostly fairly obvious to those of us who actually wear bowties, but now it's official.

I'm sorry, but that is just 10,000 kinds of wrong. There's no excuse for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Dingleberry Dickwad:Well Clara said a "girl in the shop" gave her the Doctor's number and told her it was "the best help in the universe". It never explicitly mentioned River, but it's a pretty fair guess. How many other people are going to have the Doctor's phone number and would just give it to someone?

Well, considering Rose is in the 50th anniversary special, and she keeps popping up in our universe, that's a possibility. Plus, why would early-20s Clara refer to 40-something River as a "girl"?

Jensaarai:My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

She's have to have amnesia. There's no reason a post-library River wouldn't identify herself to the Doctor. (And don't say "spoilers!")

Darth_Lukecash:No, she's done. It's the whole point of her character. The doctor and Rivers relationship is in reverse.

1) They don't meet in reverse, they meet out of order, and they've figured out over time that their meetings have mostly been in the opposite order. A few super-geeks have diagrammed the order in which they meet. Each diagram has some errors (OK, yes, I too am a super-geek), not all of them follow through to River's most recent appearance, and not all of them are very well laid out, but if you can handle the headache here they are:

Darth_Lukecash:cptjeff: RevMercutio: Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

There are ways around that. Say, when the library saved her, it somehow restored things. Or if something dumps a lot of time energy into the library computer to get it to recreate her body... You know, somehow.

Let's just say that I don't think River is out for the count.m

No, she's done. It's the whole point of her character. The doctor and Rivers relationship is in reverse.

Exactly. If ever the Doctor sees her again, she won't remember him at all, and will regard him as a stranger.

I think that she didn't get the phone number from anyone, but rather just knew it because, since her previous life at the end remembered everything, she is in fact part of the Doctor. At least this is my thought on it.

Doctor gets exposed to nano-cloud in the Asylum (because he gave Amy his watch-thingy). Oswin tells him to remember, and he gets Spocked by that. Takes those nanocloud bits back into the TARDIS with him and they sorta get spread around the universe, helped by his regeneration energy or some other thing.

So there'll probably be more Claras around, and they'll all die alot (Clara died two times this episode - she's like Kenny from South Park now).

LavenderWolf:Darth_Lukecash: cptjeff: No, she's done. It's the whole point of her character. The doctor and Rivers relationship is in reverse.

Exactly. If ever the Doctor sees her again, she won't remember him at all, and will regard him as a stranger.

As noted above, they don't live their lives opposite each other. Look up their timelines. They cross at various points - hence their diary-syncing. If they always met in opposite order, there'd be no need for the diary-syncing.

Lusiphur:At least they went with a Triumph. A Norton would have been cooler.

A Triumph Scrambler is around £7k and Triumph will lend you one as long as you like if you are Dr Who production, new Nortons are twice that ifyou can get hold of one (and persuade Norton to lend you one). Classic Nortons are more than a new Triumph.

One interesting note in regards to the mysterious "lady in the shop" that gave Clara the TARDIS number is that in the BBC shop channel where you can buy DVD's and stuff for the description of Season 1 with Eccleston it refers to the Doctors new companion as "His new assistant is Rose (Billie Piper), a shop-girl from the present day".

TheManofPA:cptjeff: RevMercutio: Jensaarai: My lulzy nonserious prediction: Clara is River post-library. (Hey, we're in a big evil computer downloading and uploading souls kick.) She goes through a bastard version of regeneration every time she dies, where she keeps her form, but gets dumped in a random time period and loses most of her experience points.

River gave up her re-gen energy to save the Doctor after she poisoned him.

There are ways around that. Say, when the library saved her, it somehow restored things. Or if something dumps a lot of time energy into the library computer to get it to recreate her body... You know, somehow.

Let's just say that I don't think River is out for the count.

I'm hoping she is. If her last episode ends with the Doctor giving the screwdriver and then leaving her to visit the library, it is a very nice little arc. Mind you the other argument is that he's the Doctor, he's gone hundreds of years at this point, and he'll damn make sure that everybody lives given that amount of time.

Or..... he'll use the Master's potions of life to create a new body for River (assuming he does not have her old one in a back room of the Tardis somewhere) and the spoonhead robots he just acquired to download her consciousness back from the Library.

dennysgod:One interesting note in regards to the mysterious "lady in the shop" that gave Clara the TARDIS number is that in the BBC shop channel where you can buy DVD's and stuff for the description of Season 1 with Eccleston it refers to the Doctors new companion as "His new assistant is Rose (Billie Piper), a shop-girl from the present day".

Why would Rose, who is in LURRVVVVVVVV with the Doctor and is his Most Specialest Companion Ever in the Whole Wide World, want to give her BOYFRIEND'S phone number to some hot girl?

dennysgod:One interesting note in regards to the mysterious "lady in the shop" that gave Clara the TARDIS number is that in the BBC shop channel where you can buy DVD's and stuff for the description of Season 1 with Eccleston it refers to the Doctors new companion as "His new assistant is Rose (Billie Piper), a shop-girl from the present day".

cptjeff:gingerjet: I'm shocked that everyone has missed the most critical and controversial element of this episode: the Doctor wears a clip on bow tie.

/the Who universe is now shaken to its core

Everyone missed this, you say?

cptjeff: jack21221: Monks are not cool!

I'm just disappointed that the Doctor wears a clip on. I'd suspected it for a long time, because the ones they have Matt Smith wear were mostly fairly obvious to those of us who actually wear bowties, but now it's official.

Yeah, I'm disappointed. It was in one of the previews, so I knew it was coming, but still. Really? They're not that hard to tie, and the Doctor has never really struck me as the clip on type. More the 'make things obnoxiously complicated and weird' type. Hence the scarf. And the clown suit. And the cape. And the flute. And the cane. And the decorative vegetable. But it's been obvious that it's a clip on for a while now (for the non-bowtie savvy out there, they really are that obvious), so it's not like this is a great revelation.

In The Wedding of River Song, Amy gives The Doctor some of his old clothes on the office on the train. There is a normal tie-able non-clipon bow tie